THE PEOPLES OF TIIE CAUCASUS.
We have already pointed out the unity of the Caucasian races among themselves, and the fact of their belonging to the Mongolian stock, and have noted their bodily peculiarities. We proceed to give an ethnographic sketch of the nations belonging to this division. The task is by no means an easy one, for, in the first place, they arc very numerous; and, secondly, there arc marked differences of speech among them, both of which reasons render their consideration as a whole most difficult. Both result from the nature of their region, the Caucasus with its narrow and secluded valleys. The proper division of their members will accordingly depend upon their places of abode.
I. We have the inhabitants of the Northern Caucasus, who are subdi vided into an eastern section, the inhabitants of Daghestan; a middle sec tion, those living on the high mountains; and a western section, the inhabitants of the western declivities of the mountains and of the country as far as the Kuban.
The inhabitants of Daghestan are (beginning at the north), first, the Avares; then on the shore of the Caspian Sea to Kaitak the Darcinian races with their different tongues, among them the Akaschans, the Chai daks, and others; south and south-west from these the (Laks, as they call themselves); and, finally, the Kerins along the Samnr, as far as Kuba, who generally call themselves name derived from the Turks, who call all the mountain-folk of Daghestan, Lesghians, so that this name has become universally adopted.
A number of tribes with different tongues belong also to the Kerins, so that it seems as though other small independent clans lived in this vicinity. Such are the (Ides, in the south-east part of the Kurin terri tory. We must notice that the appearance presented by the people of the Caucasus as a whole is also shown in each individual division, for into each of the races named members of other races have penetrated. Thus among the Kerins there are Dargins, Kasi-Kumuches, etc.
The second or middle division contains only a few small tribes which are included under the name of the ,11k:dsheges. They live north-west
from the Avares, and to them belong the Tchetchenses, the Kanzbrilaks, the Thusches (south-west from the Avares), Pshans, Chefsnrs, etc.
The western division—the Tcher•esses, as the Russians call them—are far more important, being subdivided into the Athkes, the Tcherkesses in a more contracted sense, or the areassians and their various clans, and the Abchas, who likewise are divided into a number of isolated clans. Among the Adip,-es the Kabardans may be named on account of their influence upon the other nations of the Caucasus. There has been a large emigra tion from the territory of the Cireassians into Turkey in consequence of their war with Russia in 1861.
2. The inhabitants qf the southern provinces of the Caucasus: first, the S7CalleS, in the high mountain-lands between the Ossetes (an ludo Germanic people) and the Abchas; then south from them, on the coast of the Black Sea, the Mingrelians; eastward the Georgians (Grusians, Kar tulians, as they call themselves), together with the fincritians ; and, fin ally, in the extreme south-west, on the sea-shore south from the Mingre flans, the La.:, who also, like all the peoples we have mentioned, are divided into numerous little subdivisions with different dialects. Vari ous Turkish tribes have also settled in the Caucasus.
Space will not permit us to go into a full description of all of them; we must therefore content ourselves with a few remarks to explain our illustrations.
The dress generally corresponds with the Mongolian. The men wear tight trousers inserted into ghiters, over which are slipper like shoes. They have two coats, both with sleeves, the outer one being longer and fuller, so that its sleeves have to be turned back; they are mostly made of white woollen stuff (pl. So, fig. 3). The coat opens only on the breast, and shows the colored under-garment. In front on both sides are several prettily-ornamented pockets (pl. So, figs. 3, 8, 9, to, 12). It is always girded with a leather strap, and often covered with a water proof mantle of long sheep's wool (pl. So, fig. It, right).